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Stop 'n' Swop
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Stop 'n' Swop is an infamous scrapped feature from Banjo-Kazooie. The intended purpose was to unlock the hidden locations of seven special items, including six Mystery Eggs and the Ice Key, which the player could then transfer to Banjo-Tooie.
Description
Banjo-Kazooie
The only instance where Stop 'n' Swop is referenced during normal gameplay is in the 100% completion ending, after Banjo and Kazooie obtain all 100 Jiggies. The ending shows Mumbo Jumbo holding up a few photographs: two of them depict a Mystery Egg and the other one depicts the Ice Key.
It is possible for Banjo and Kazooie to unlock the location of a Stop 'n' Swop item and then obtain it from that location. To do so, Banjo must enter the Sandcastle of Treasure Trove Cove and hit the letter panels in a specific order to spell out a sentence.
There is a unique menu displaying the Stop 'n' Swop items that Banjo had obtained. It is unknown what accomplishment would have resulted from the items, as they are devoid of functionality or purpose without the Stop 'n' Swop feature.
Banjo-Tooie
A few of the Stop 'n' Swop items were repurposed for Banjo-Tooie, the Ice Key and the pink, yellow, and light blue Mystery Eggs. Aside from the Yellow Mystery Egg, Banjo and Kazooie can obtain each item by defeating a Banjo-Kazooie Game Pak enemy. After obtaining an egg, Banjo and Kazooie must return to Heggy's Egg Shed, where Kazooie must use her Hatch ability on the egg to unlock a feature. The Ice Key was used for unlocking a Mega Glowbo that can transform Kazooie into a dragon.
History
For a few years, the feature remained hidden in Banjo-Kazooie. There is evidence suggesting that the feature was never implemented entirely because of some hardware revisions done to the Nintendo 64 in 1999. Originally, the player had up to ten seconds to swap the cartridges, but the circuitry in later revisions dropped the limit to one second, theoretically making this impossible.[1]
In January 2001, shortly after the release of Banjo-Tooie, a fansite called Rare Witch Project discovered how to unlock the Stop 'n' Swop items without the use of a cheating device.[2] This information was publicized in the February 2001 issue of N64 Magazine and via a column in the April 2001 issue of Nintendo Power.
It had also been revealed by the Rare team at E3 2008 that the version of Banjo-Kazooie released on the Xbox live arcade would implement the Stop 'n' Swop feature as it was originally intended; however, it would be used in correspondence to Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. As a player collects the Stop 'n' Swop items in the arcade version, they unlock rare vehicle parts in Nuts & Bolts, for example: the Ice Key grants flags that have the Union Jack on them. The crates are hidden around Showdown Town but will appear by a drawing of that certain item on a wall or roof. Another item unlocks Roysten and his fishbowl as a part (needed for the LOG Banjo).
In Microsoft's E3 2008 press conference, it was announced that the original Banjo-Kazooie would be ported to Xbox Live Arcade, and would have a renewed Stop 'n' Swop connectivity feature with the upcoming Nuts & Bolts to unlock new features.[3]
In Nuts & Bolts, Bottles also offers a "Stop 'n' Swop Truth" in exchange for 6,000 Music Notes. It is not possible to obtain this amount, but an unused text string reveals that Bottles would have said, "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you, and we couldn't show that in a game with this rating. Put it out of your mind and think happy thoughts! Thanks for the notes!"
On January 27, 2009, Rare announced the Xbox Live Arcade port for Banjo-Tooie and that the "original plan" for Stop 'n' Swop would be implemented. It was revealed that the eggs and key in the XBLA version of Banjo-Kazooie would unlock bonus vehicle parts in Nuts & Bolts. The game also has an imprint of the ice key on top of Boggy's gym and drawings of the eggs throughout Showdown Town. When a Stop 'n' Swop item is collected in Banjo-Kazooie, a corresponding crate appears at each drawing. Banjo and Kazooie can take them to Mumbo to get the special vehicle parts. The level BanjoLand (a museum-like level that contains various artefacts from the first two games) also features large fake Stop 'n' Swop eggs that contain Gruntbots.
In the XBLA port of Banjo-Tooie, the six eggs and key from Banjo-Kazooie unlock the bonuses included in the original N64 version, as well as new content related to the Xbox 360. Using the Stop 'n' Swop items in Banjo-Tooie will also unlock seven additional vehicle blueprints in the "L.O.G.'s Lost Challenges" downloadable content for Nuts & Bolts. In place of the three preexisting eggs are gold, silver and bronze eggs. The three unlock achievements listed under a "Stop 'n' Swop II" submenu. Additional Stop 'n' Swop II achievements can be unlocked by completing specific objectives in the game. Like the original Stop 'n' Swop before it, the items and criteria to be met in Stop 'n' Swop II are meant to be used in a future Banjo game.
Locations
Cyan Mystery Egg
The Cyan Mystery Egg is found in the cellar of Mad Monster Mansion, in a barrel marked "1881"; it is a reference to Atic Atac, one of Rare's first games. Before entering the code one should note that the barrel is sealed with an "X". When Banjo and Kazooie enter this barrel, there is also water where this egg nestles.
The code is "CHEAT DONT YOU GO AND TELL HER ABOUT THE SECRET IN HER CELLAR".
Pink Mystery Egg
The Pink Mystery Egg is found in Sharkfood Island, a small mark of land in Treasure Trove Cove that, upon entering the code, rises to turn out to be a cave. Mumbo reveals it after the game is finished with all 100 Jiggies.
The code is "CHEAT OUT OF THE SEA IT RISES TO REVEAL MORE SECRET PRIZES".
Blue Mystery Egg
The Blue Mystery Egg is found in Gobi's Valley, behind an unopenable door which Gobi sits by before leaving the desert. The egg can be found inside a sarcophagus in the proceeding room. Mumbo reveals it after the game is finished with all 100 Jiggies.
The code "CHEAT A DESERT DOOR OPENS WIDE ANCIENT SECRETS WAIT INSIDE" opens the tomb door.
Green Mystery Egg
The Green Mystery Egg is the second egg to be found in Mad Monster Mansion; there seems to be no discernable reason for this, though. The egg is found in the bathroom, on top of Loggo.
The code is "CHEAT AMIDST THE HAUNTED GLOOM A SECRET IN THE BATHROOM".
Red Mystery Egg
The Red Mystery Egg is found in the captain's quarters in Rusty Bucket Bay, accessed by breaking one of the windows. And here, this egg is rotating on the captain's bed.
The code is "CHEAT THIS SECRET YOULL BE GRABBIN IN THE CAPTAINS CABIN".
Yellow Mystery Egg
The Yellow Mystery Egg is found in Click Clock Wood in Nabnut's house in the winter season. To reach it, one must enter through the window.
The code is "CHEAT NOW BANJO WILL BE ABLE TO SEE IT ON NABNUTS TABLE".
Ice Key
The Ice Key is perhaps the most mysterious Stop 'n' Swop item, predominantly because it is the only item that can be seen during normal play. It is found in Wozza's cave, in a small alcove; if the player uses first person mode, they can see through the ice to see the key twirling, but there is no way to get in. However, typing in the following code removes the unbreakable ice wall. Mumbo reveals it after the game is finished with all 100 Jiggies.
The code is "CHEAT NOW YOU CAN SEE A NICE ICE KEY WHICH YOU CAN HAVE FOR FREE".
Banjo-Tooie
Even though Rare dropped the Stop 'n' Swop idea, they decided to add three of the Mystery Eggs and the Ice Key to Banjo-Tooie. Each of these items unlocked a secret in the game.
Ice Key
In Banjo-Tooie, the Ice Key could be found in a cave around the sandy area of Jinjo Village. It unlocks a large Ice Vault that holds the Mega-Glowbo. The Mega-Glowbo can be used in Humba Wumba's wigwam at the entrance of Witchyworld to transform Kazooie into a Dragon.
Pink Mystery Egg
The egg is in Spiral Mountain, in front of the mountain. By bringing it to Heggy in Wooded Hollow, Banjo will be able to use a new move.
Blue Mystery Egg
It is behind the waterfall in Spiral Mountain. It unlocks the homing eggs cheat in the code chamber at Mayahem Temple.
Yellow Mystery Egg
The egg is found in Heggy's House, but it must be hatched by Kazooie. It unlocks the Jinjo in Squackmatch multiplayer.
Banjo-Tooie (XBLA)
Unlike the original Banjo-Tooie the Stop 'n' Swop items are not available in the game unless they were collected in Banjo-Kazooie (XBLA) in which case the player starts with the items already collected. (The SnS items will be available in Banjo-Kazooie once the player has a save file in Banjo-Tooie or Banjo-Kazooie Nuts and Bolts. This includes the Nuts and Bolts Demo.) Heggy will hatch all the eggs which will unlock the three awards from the original (Breegull Bash, Jinjo as a multiplayer character and Homing Eggs) along with a gamer pic, a Xbox theme and Stop 'n' Swop II. The Ice Key is still used to access the Mega-Glowbo.
Upon completion of Stop 'n' Swop new blueprints will become available in Nuts & Bolts if the player has L.O.G.'s Lost Challenges.
Trivia
- In Grabbed by the Ghoulies, there is a chalkboard that reads "Collect Ice Key. Collect 4 eggs. Open Secret Level." This has been presumed to be nothing more than a way to mock fans, but it is unknown whether it's fake.
- The first part of the theme that plays when Banjo enters an area containing a Stop 'n' Swop item was later used in Donkey Kong 64, where it plays when Troff and Scoff open a boss door.
- Stop 'n' Swop has been mentioned various times in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. Bottles pretends to offer the secret of Stop 'n' Swop for 6000 notes (despite the fact that there aren't 6000 notes in the game), but steals the player's notes and doesn't tell them anything, claiming that he'd have to kill them. Trophy Thomas accuses the player of cheating using Stop 'n' swop at one of his challenges. A few mystery eggs and a fake Ice Key are in Banjoland. Lord of Games asks a question about Stop 'n' Swop during the trivia, asking what failed connection from Banjo-Kazooie to Banjo-Tooie that some fans still won't shut up about was. Paintings of the eggs and an imprint of the Ice Key around Showdown Town and Boggy's Gym could also be found. These will give parts when the eggs are collected in Banjo-Kazooie on the Xbox Live Arcade. (Beacon, Goldfish, Mole-on-a-Pole, Googly Eyes, Fluffy Dice, Flag (2x), & Disco Ball)
- Stop 'n' Swop was also mentioned in Banjo-Pilot, as a reward from Cheato. Upon attempt to receive it, he says, "Why don't you STOP annoying me and SWOP this game for a nice book or something?"
